Have the Edmonton Oilers turned the tide?
A 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday to avoid elimination from the playoffs was the team’s most complete game yet in the first-round series.
Edmonton still trails the best-of-seven affair 3-2 heading to Anaheim for Thursday’s Game 6 at the Honda Center, where the Oilers have yet to win in this series.
The Oilers can hope they planted a seed of doubt in the team of speedy young Ducks, which has a dozen players under the age of 25 and 14 who are making their playoff debuts.
Game 7, if there is one, would be back in Edmonton on Saturday.
Edmonton’s captain Connor McDavid had two assists and played 24 minutes on Tuesday. Coach Kris Knoblauch had said McDavid’s participation was a game-time decision after McDavid rolled his ankle in the second game of the series.
Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup final each of the last two years before losing to the Florida Panthers.
This year, Edmonton won the series opener against the Ducks then had three straight losses, putting the team in a precarious playoff hole.
“All we did is survive one more day,” McDavid said. “The pressure’s on us, but it’s a big game for them too. I’m sure they’ll be feeling that too. Closeout games are tough.
“I’m sure they’re not going to want to come back to Edmonton, so pressure on them, but we’ve got to find a way to survive another day.”
After being unable to protect its lead in previous games of the series, the Oilers scored three in Tuesday’s first period to chase Lukas Dostal from Anaheim’s net.
Edmonton maintained control in the face of an expected pushback from a Ducks team that led the league in comeback wins. When Anaheim’s Alex Killorn scored a power-play goal early in the second period, Leon Draisaitl countered with one for the Oilers before the midway point.
“A game like that gives us a little bit of fresh air, a little bit of a fresh start,” said Vasily Podkolzin, who scored Edmonton’s first goal.
Goalie Connor Ingram stopped 23 of 24 shots in the last 40 minutes of the game, for 29 saves overall in his return to the net. He started the first three games of the series before Tristan Jarry’s 34 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 4 in Anaheim.
“I was frustrated after Game 3 just with myself and what was going on, so to give myself a little break mentally and physically was huge,” Ingram said.
Oilers survive Game 5 to take series back to Anaheim
Edmonton’s top players lived up to their billing Tuesday with Draisaitl scoring twice. One more playoff goal and the centre will surpass Wayne Gretzky’s 23 for the most in franchise history.
Knoblauch paired McDavid and Draisaitl on the same line for several minutes in the game.
Defenceman Evan Bouchard, who Knoblauch called “our best defenceman,” played his best game of the series with savvy passes for three assists and a plus-2 rating.
Edmonton heads to Anaheim with momentum and needs to make the most of it to extend the series again.
“I don’t know what it is with us,” Bouchard said. “I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times. When our backs are against the wall, we play good hockey.”
